Logos, websites & blogs

Designing a logo for use on website & blog headers

While the most effective aspect ratio for any logo is certainly open for debate (though a square logo is often preferred when it comes to social media platforms like Twitter, Facebook & YouTube), developing a horizontal logo is preferable when it comes to blog and website header usage. This isn’t a logo commandment or anything, but square logos can can lost in the top left corner of a typical web page header.

As if to illustrate that this isn’t carved in stone, The Logo Factory® web header logo is both square and on the right hand side. We don’t think it looks too bad either. Accordingly, square logos can be used quite effectively (as long as the web header is designed around them). On the other hand, their vertical cousins can practically disappear. Let’s take a look at some typical logo design aspect ratios:

Now let’s place those rudimentary logo shapes into some basic website and blog header layouts to compare effectiveness. Keep in mind that we’ve exaggerated things to make a point, but it should give you a basic idea of how thing play out. When we add everything up, a horizontal format is definitely more appropriate for website and blog use than a square one. For all intents and purposes, and unless we employ some pretty radical website styling, any extremely vertical logo design is out. There’s probably not a graphic designer working today, at least those with a few years of experience under their belt, who hasn’t had to deal with a variation of this scenario – explaining to a client why their logo is so small when it’s featured on their blog or website. Here’s why.

Removable icons and fluid logos

When it comes to using a logo on a website or blog header (and incorporating that notion into the logo design process itself) which is a better aspect ratio: square or horizontal? Alas, there’s not dyed-in-the-wool solution, and neither one overshadows the other entirely (when designing logos for social media for example, it’s strongly suggested that a square format is best). The most complete answer is that anyone that’s serious about social media, websites and blogs, probably needs a little bit of both. It’s always been advisable, if your designer is incorporating pictorial imagery into a logo, that it should be able to be used on its own, and disconnected from the text portion of the logo. Granted, that’s not always possible, so designers and clients need to be a little more fluid in adapting their logos to different uses through a little ‘tweaking’ here and there.

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